Actually The whole company Venedome is bought by Richemont Group. (I do not remember the site adress) So it is this Richemont Group that owns Purdey to day.

Some comment to this engraving discussion. Purdey makes guns for two types of people. The hunters and collectors. I think it is about 50/50. The hunter usualy order guns with the famuse standard fine engraving (also called Purdey engraving or rose and scroll, this was introdused by J. Lucas in 1860 who was an engraver at Purdeys.) This engraving takes 200 manhours to do.

The heavy engraving project started in texas around 1950. Harry Lawrence was on a sales trip in Texas. They wanted "Pretty Guns" or "Purdey guns" And to reply to that demand J.P.T.Y. said: "If that is the american wants, I suppose we had better gve it to them".

To day these heavy engraving collectors have no limit for their orders. They want a whole series of guns engraved from one spesial engraver. Then a whole new series from another engraver. And when you see these engraved guns firsthand (I have seen a Purdey O/U gold engraved to 180000£)it is just breathtaking. And nothing can compare with it. It may be ugly in some eays but this workmanship is just awesome. I agree that an original Purdey is the one with Rose and scroll engraving. But i find it interesting to look at the heavy guns to and I am glad that someone are willing to pay to keep this artwork alive.